Launched in 2010, The Noun Project’s mission is as simplistic as the website itself: “creating, sharing and celebrating the world’s visual language.” A resource for designers and architects, it’s vast library of iconography is available to use, share or adapt—for any purpose—even commercially, provided that credit is given as stated through a CreativeCommons license. Credit can be omitted for a nominal fee which is split with the artist.

The project, a collaboration of Iowa State alumni [gratuitous plug] Edward Boatman and Sofya Polyakov, as well as Scott Thomas (SimpleScott) was funded via Kickstarter and reached its target less than a week after launching.

Since it’s launch, the library has grown to over 150,000 icons contributed by designers from all over the world including artwork ranging from AIGA’s “Helvetica man” symbol signs to today’s hipster man equivalent.

The movement’s popularity has also given rise to facilitated design workshops hosted by the Noun Project. The workshops, known as Iconathons, are public design forums driven by the intent of creating a new set of civic minded symbols for the public domain. Hosted at various locations across the U.S., Iconothons have included collaborations with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Duke University, and Mother Jones among others.

Noun Project’s exclusive Mac App

For those interested in a higher volume solution, The Noun Project offers a unlimited download, royalty-free subscription program complete with an exclusive drag and drop mac app.

French designer, entrepreneur, and self-professed point on the autistic spectrum Angelique Adrianna Govy (a.k.a. govy) has contextualized the relative universal significance (or insignificance) of your birthday—or any other date meaningful to you. Govy, not a newcomer to Kickstarter, won the 2015 A’ Design Award for her first product design of the Yozakura Sake Set.

This project, currently funding, will materialize in the form of T-shirts and museum-quality posters (although there are rumblings that personally licensed vector files might be an option) and depicts the order of our universe on a given date and time in history.

It’s a nice reminder of the alternatives to mass-produced, cookie-cutter merchandising. It’s a simple, well thought out concept… personalized and executed with high-quality materials. Check it out.